TPR guidance on Virgin Media remedy
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has published guidance for schemes with potentially invalid historic alterations following the Virgin Media decision. The Pension Schemes Bill (PSB) includes a remedy to help deal with these issues, involving retrospective actuarial confirmation. The guidance sets out a range of practical points, including:
- Schemes should weigh up the cost and benefit of searching for evidence of a historic actuarial confirmation versus moving directly to remediation under the PSB provisions.
- To use the PSB provisions, schemes will need to provide a formal written instruction to their actuary specifying the alterations to be considered; agree a practical and realistic timetable according to the scheme's circumstances and discuss timing with the sponsoring employer.
- Schemes should speak to actuaries at the outset about whether they have sufficient information already available to form an opinion. TPR does not expect exhaustive searches to be undertaken. If additional information is required, work with administrators and employers to identify what is readily available.
- Maintain a clear audit trail for all decisions, actions and results; keep the sponsoring employer informed and consider the extent to which any findings on validity may affect the scheme's funding position. Ensure document retention policies will not cause records to be destroyed before the matter is resolved.
- Schemes do not need to report their actions to TPR: if and to the extent an invalid amendment can be remedied, any historic breach is “very unlikely to be materially significant” to TPR now.
Read the guidance.
Updated master trust reserving guidance
TPR has updated its guidance around regulatory capital reserving requirements for master trusts, as part of its objective to “strip back unnecessary regulatory burden so that schemes can free up capital for productive use and focus on delivering the best possible outcomes for members”. The updates allow for a more scheme-specific approach and changes thresholds, including lower minimum liquidity levels in certain circumstances and greater allowance for revenue offsetting. TPR will publish annual data on reserving practices from next year.
Read the guidance and blog post discussing the updates.
Upcoming TPR guidance
In a recent speech discussing innovation in the pensions market, TPR’s chief executive gave some updates on upcoming developments: TPR will publish guidance in early May on the factors that trustees of DB schemes should consider when releasing surplus; it will publish a report later this spring on its engagement with industry on understanding the barriers and appetite for private market investments, including UK-based infrastructure; and it expects to publish an AI action plan in May, with annual progress updates.
Read the speech.
County Court ruling on limitation period issues in Beckmann rights claim
A new County Court decision considers the correct limitation period for a claim for failure to provide “Beckmann rights” following a transfer under TUPE (the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006): Mendes v. Slater and Gordon. Broadly, TUPE protects an employee’s rights when a business is transferred to a new employer but contains an exemption under which rights under occupational pension schemes are carved out from the transfer, such that the new employer does not have to provide those rights. The exception is that any enhanced early retirement or redundancy rights (“Beckmann rights”) do transfer to the new employer.
In this case, Dr Mendes had enhanced early retirement redundancy rights and was transferred to a new employer under TUPE in 2012. He was made redundant in 2017 but did not receive redundancy payments reflecting his Beckmann rights in relation to pre-2012 service and sought advice from solicitors on this. The solicitors failed to issue proceedings and admitted this was a breach of their duties. The question for consideration, as a preliminary matter, was whether Dr Mendes had lost his underlying right to claim for these Beckmann rights due to limitation (the legal time limit on bringing claims).
To determine when the limitation period began, His Honour Judge Monty KC first considered whether a fresh cause of action accrues for each incorrect monthly pension payment, or if there was a one-off breach upon redundancy. He considered multiple cases in which pension payments have given rise to a claim on an instalment-by-instalment basis. However, in this case the obligation was on the employer to ensure that Dr Mendes received regular payments reflecting his Beckmann rights. This was not a trustee obligation; the trustee had paid Dr Mendes in accordance with the rules of the scheme. On the day before redundancy, Dr Mendes was entitled to his Beckmann rights, and his employer was obliged to fund the pension scheme so that those rights would result in payment of the enhanced redundancy benefit. This claim was against the employer for damages in respect of its failure to do so, which was a one-off breach at the date of redundancy.
Limitation periods vary according to the type of claim, for example: a claim by a beneficiary under a trust to recover trust property—no limitation period; a claim upon a specialty (the deeds of the scheme)—a 12-year limitation period; or a simple contractual/tortious claim—a six-year limitation period. The judge held it was a contractual claim; it was a failure to provide Dr Mendes with his entitlement under his contract of employment when that right was triggered by redundancy. It was not a claim in respect of the loss of trust rights or for underpayment of benefits.
The case is not currently available through public sources; contact us if you would like more information.
PASA trustee-administrator lifecycle guidance: final instalment
The Pensions Administration Standards Association (PASA) has published the fourth and final part of its series of guidance on the trustee-administrator lifecycle. This instalment focuses on building and sustaining an effective trustee–administrator relationship following installation. It includes suggestions for a governance framework; effective oversight; and how to manage challenges and a breakdown in relationship. PASA will also be sharing a practical oversight tool to support discussions.
Read the guide.
Dashboards testing and revised reporting standards
The Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) has published an updated draft of its reporting standards as part of its consultation on changes to the standards, largely aimed at requiring daily, automated reporting of data. This updated draft version sets out the technical requirements for the routine submission of this data to MaPS. The consultation is open until April 30, 2026.
The PDP has also announced that the second phase of consumer testing for the MoneyHelper pensions dashboard is now underway. It has published a blog post outlining what this new phase involves and how results will be shared. It encourages schemes to invite members to take part and includes a toolkit to help communicate about this.
Read the updated standards and the blog post.
HMRC: latest pensions schemes newsletter
HMRC has published its latest pension schemes newsletter (no. 179). The newsletter includes information on changes to the way some UK pension payments to people living in Luxembourg are taxed; a reminder that from April 6, 2026, all pension scheme administrators of a UK registered pension scheme will need to be UK resident; and updates on the lifetime allowance protection look-up service and other matters.
Read the newsletter.
